Turquoise is one of the oldest sacred healing stones, and often used in amulets and talisman; it brings wisdom and grounds the “wayward” spirit. The turquoise in my pieces is natural and solid, it has not been treated in anyway, or powdered and put back together with resin. This is the real stuff. Just saying.

It’s the time of year when we’re supposed to shamelessly flog our wares for the season. What I really wanna do is wish everyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Whatever You Celebrate and the Best New Year. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged and supported me these last couple of years. I am sincerely grateful.

It’s supposed to be the “winter” season. Here in the Big Easy, we had a whole three or four days of chilly weather last month – it was enough to inspire me to dig through some of my “frosty” gems. Gemstones that have phenomenon called “labradorescence”, “adularescence” and “opalescence”. Sounds romantic doesn’t it? Well actually it is. Take moonstones for example, the ancient Romans believed that moonstones were formed from frozen moonlight. Labradorite stones are actually trapped “Northern Lights”, some were freed by an Inuit warrior to play in the sky. Arabs believed that opals fell to the earth in lightning flashes. Sigh.

Aquamarine & Australian Opal “Miss Matched” Earrings

These earrings were created with Australian opals, one round cab, one oval cab set in 22K gold. The aquamarines are set in fine silver, also one round cab and one oval cabochon. Similar but “Miss Matched”, almost “Mod Squad” ish!

The earrings above consist of frosty pale, “crushed ice” baby geodes, rose cut rainbow moonstones (only slightly mis matched – one round, one oval) with ametrine briolettes. “Rainbow moonstone” is technically a type of labradorite. Unless you are into the formal (NOT romantic) nomenclature of gems, it’s just too much like work to explain all this stuff. I’ll be brief: Moonstones are orthoclase feldspar, their “flash” or “sheen” is referred to as “adularescence” and rainbow moonstones are labradorite feldspar, and their “sheen” is referred to as “labradorescence”.

It’s worth noting that these beauties are more fragile than other rocks and gems. All are less than 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness, which means care should be taken to keep them from getting banged around or scratched. Rings especially are vulnerable. No housework, no doing dishes with them on!! Treat them like the high maintenance super models that they are and they’ll reward you for years with their flashy beauty!

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